The decision to build a port in Gwadar was initially taken in the early 1990s when the hydrocarbon-laden and mineral-rich Central Asian Republics gained independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Without the Highway, Gwadar would have been an island sitting without the bridges that connect it with Karachi in the south and the rest of Pakistan and the larger world around in the north and the west.

Another key connection of an established infrastructure in this part of the country, it offers China a potential alternative to the vulnerable choke points in the Malacca straits.

Prior to the construction of the Makran Coastal Highway in 2004, Karachi was linked to Gwadar via an uncarpeted "jeep" or "dirt" track.

Construction work on the Makran Coastal Highway Project commenced in 2002 and was completed by 14 December 2004, in a period of three years.